


Fall Before I Fold

by SilverMoonSky



Series: ML Oneshots [64]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Angst, Bittersweet Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Identity Reveal, Post-Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth Identity Reveal, Post-Hawk Moth Defeat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:47:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26869171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMoonSky/pseuds/SilverMoonSky
Summary: Marinette stands in front of the Agreste mansion.Hawk Moth has been defeated, Gabriel Agreste’s fashion empire is in shambles, and Chat Noir is nowhere to be found.At least, that’s what Paris thinks. That’s what Paris thinks Ladybug thinks.But Marinette has done her research. She’s spent weeks mulling over this question.And now, standing in front of the Agreste mansion clutching a familiar ring in her fingers, she knows exactly what she has to do.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: ML Oneshots [64]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1643566
Comments: 20
Kudos: 388





	Fall Before I Fold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Enonimouse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enonimouse/gifts).



> This is for you, Enni! Congratulations on being one of the bingo winners on the Miraculous Fanworks Discord Server! You asked for an Adrinette identity reveal fic, either fluff or angst, so I went the angst route. I hope you enjoy :)
> 
> Thank you so much to [Maddy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionalinfinity/pseuds/fictionalinfinity) for being my lovely beta, and for helping me come up with a title <3

Marinette stands in front of the Agreste mansion.

Hawk Moth has been defeated, Gabriel Agreste’s fashion empire is in shambles, and Chat Noir is nowhere to be found.

At least, that’s what _Paris_ thinks. That’s what Paris thinks _Ladybug_ thinks.

But Marinette has done her research. She’s spent weeks mulling over this question.

And now, standing in front of the Agreste mansion clutching a familiar ring in her fingers, she knows exactly what she has to do.

She rings the doorbell. The camera moves around for a little while until it finally finds her standing beneath it.

“I’m here to talk to Adrien,” Marinette says, looking right at the center of the camera. Chin up. Back straight. She isn’t going to waver. Not this time. Not _ever._

She _has_ to talk to Adrien. Nothing’s going to stop her from doing so this time.

She is sure—no, _positive—_ that the Gorilla is the one behind the camera. As soon as she sees the camera lens closing and beginning to retreat from where it’s focusing on her, Marinette unclenches her hand and holds it out, bearing a familiar ring.

“I need to talk to Adrien,” Marinette repeats.

The camera wavers for a second. Marinette continues to stand there, and suddenly, she’s worried. What if she got her facts wrong? What if Adrien _wasn’t_ who she thought he was? What if she’s wrong, what if she’s back to square one, what if all the work she’s done for the past few weeks is invalid and she’s wrong, wrong, _wrong—_

“Please,” she whispers softly, “I need to talk to him.”

The camera moves back, its lenses close, and the gate slowly swings open.

Marinette releases a breath she didn’t realize she’s been holding, and takes her first steps into the mansion since the day she defeated Gabriel Agreste as Hawk Moth.

* * *

_The final fight, in the end, is an easy one._

_When Hawk Moth is finally defeated after all of those years of running ragged fighting him, Ladybug and Chat Noir are both relieved. Because_ finally, _the masks can come down,_ finally, _they can be at rest and live life as normal civilians, and perhaps_ finally _they can be together, confess and let down all the walls between them. . . ._

_And yet, the moment Hawk Moth’s mask comes down, the moment Chat realizes who exactly is behind the person who terrorized Paris for_ years, _Chat knows this is the end._

_He stands there in shock. He stands there, his hand barely able to clutch the Butterfly Miraculous without trembling and threatening to drop it. He stands there as the police lead the terrorist away, as Ladybug walks over to him to collect the Butterfly Miraculous—and, he soon realizes, the Peacock Miraculous, belonging to someone else very familiar—and through it all, he stands there. Stands there with tears welling up in his eyes as his world crumbles down around him._

_Chat decides, then and there, he can never face Ladybug again._

* * *

When Marinette finds herself walking up the stairs towards Adrien’s bedroom—after having proved to the Gorilla the ring she showed him on camera is the real thing, and that she truly is Ladybug—she’s suddenly nervous. What if this doesn’t go as planned? What if Adrien says no, what if he refuses to even talk to her?

Her fingers clench around the ring in her hand. It’s a possibility. Adrien gave her the ring back. There’s a chance he might not take it back.

But, as she finds herself standing in front of the door to his bedroom, Tikki and Plagg both hovering anxiously over her shoulders, she resolves that she _has_ to talk to him. Even if it’s the last thing she does today, even if it takes hours and hours of trial and error, she _has_ to.

Because Adrien may be avoiding his classmates. He may be avoiding the press and the public. He may have even tried to avoid his superhero partner by giving back his Miraculous.

But there is no possible way Adrien can avoid Marinette.

_Marinette,_ who is also Ladybug, who is also the girl who’s been in love with him for _years._

She’s been through a lot when it comes to confessing feelings for him. It takes a lot for Marinette to give up on something, after all. She wasn’t going to give up on this so easily.

Adrien Agreste could try. But he could not avoid Marinette Dupain-Cheng if she could help it.

* * *

_Adrien slips the ring off the very night everything goes down. He doesn’t bother to say goodbye to Plagg. He doesn’t bother to go on patrol and tell Ladybug he’s going to give up the Miraculous._

_Instead, like a coward, he writes her a simple note. A note with only two sentences._

I can’t be Chat Noir anymore, I’m sorry. Please forgive me.

_Shame builds up in his throat as he slips the Miraculous into the same box he took it out of all those years ago. He grabs a hoodie, ventures out of the house, and goes and puts it in a place he knows Ladybug will find it. A place only he and Ladybug know about. This way, the Miraculous doesn’t get into the wrong hands._

_And yet, as he walks home, avoiding the press and everyone else, Adrien can’t help but feel like the Miraculous_ was _entrusted into the wrong hands in the first place._

_Master Fu never should’ve trusted him. That much is clear. He’s a failure. He’s an idiot, and if he were_ actually _a superhero, he would’ve figured out his father is Hawk Moth a long time ago._

_But no. He didn't._

_He doesn’t deserve the title of a superhero, Adrien decides. He doesn’t deserve any of it—not the fame, not the recognition, not the love of his lady—_

_Only she isn’t his lady. She never has been, and never will be._

 _The sky splits open and a crack of thunder slips through as Adrien walks back towards his house—the house he’s lived in his entire life. Not his home, but his_ house. _The rain begins to pour and soak his clothes, and only one thought is going through his head:_

I’m a failure.

_His father is in jail, he’ll never see his lady again, and everyone else hates him._

_But, he accepts with a heavy sigh, thus is the unlucky life of Adrien Agreste._

* * *

Standing in front of his bedroom door, she knocks, once.

“Adrien?” Marinette says quietly.

She’s searched far and wide. She’s thought long and hard about who the ring belongs to. She’s pondered for _weeks_ about who could possibly be her Chat Noir. Her kitty. Her best friend, her superhero partner, the love of her life—

Marinette swallows as she holds the ring closer against her chest.

It _has_ to be him. Adrien _has_ to be him.

“Adrien,” Marinette says once again, “it’s me, Marinette. I know your bodyguard said you’re not allowing any visitors, but. . . . we miss you. Your friends. We know you’re hurting, and I understand if you don’t want to see us. But. . . . we _want_ to help you. We _want_ to be there for you.”

She doesn’t hear a reply, and, as the seconds tick by, her heart slowly begins to sink.

Plagg flits above Marinette’s shoulder, his eyes narrowing as if all he wants to do is barge in there and yell at Adrien to open up. But with one glance in her direction, Plagg knows Marinette will never allow him to do that.

They continue to wait. Adrien continues to keep the door closed, and Marinette sighs.

Maybe this wasn’t going to work after all. Perhaps Adrien was just going to avoid her anyways, and there’s no way that he’s going to come out of his room and _talk_ to her. Perhaps this is simply a lost cause.

But Plagg throws another glance in her direction. Almost _pleading, begging_ her to make him open up so they can see him again. . . .

_“I_ want to be there for you,” she whispers quietly in one last feeble attempt. _“I_ miss you.”

_I miss you, I need you, I want you, please come back to me_ —

It’s silent.

Marinette knows her answer.

She feels tears sting her eyes as she turns around with a heavy heart, holding the ring tightly. She hears Plagg mutter something angrily to Tikki, and Tikki whispers something back. She turns around. Away from the door. Away from where Adrien is.

She takes a step away. One step. Two steps. Each and every single one is painful. She has to remind herself to leave, but it’s so, _so_ hard when her heart is calling out to the one locked behind that closed door.

_One more step away. Two more steps away. Three more_ —

Suddenly, she hears a lock click, and the door behind her creaks open.

“Come in,” she hears a voice murmur. One she hasn’t heard in _weeks._ One that makes her eyes sting with tears all over again.

It doesn’t take her long to spin around and rush into the room.

* * *

_When Ladybug finds the ring, she’s devastated._

_In the days since Hawkmoth had been defeated, she's been looking everywhere, hoping desperately to try and find him. She’s been wandering and asking around and looking and looking and_ looking, _but now. . . ._

_It looks like it’s been useless._

_She stares down at the box. She picks it up. She swallows, squeezing her eyes shut tightly so the tears can’t fall, before opening her eyes again and gently prying open the box._

_The first thing she sees is a flash of green light as a kwami materializes in front of her. Plagg instantly bolts around the rooftop she’s standing on, desperately looking around._

_“Kid?” he yells, almost screaming as he looks around. “Kid?”_

_Seeing Plagg look around for him, seeing the desperation in the kwami’s eyes and the sheer lividness, Ladybug once again feels moisture gather against her eyelashes._

_Plagg eventually finishes bolting around the rooftop, looks at her, a question in his cat-like, green eyes._

_Ladybug simply shakes her head._

_“Where is he, Plagg?” she croaks. “Why did he give up the ring?”_

_And, watching Plagg break, his face crumbling and his eyes welling up with unspoken emotion, Ladybug breaks, too._

* * *

Adrien doesn’t exactly know what prompts him to open the door this time.

Maybe it’s the sheer desperation he hears in Marinette’s voice as she tries to convince him. Maybe it’s the aching in his chest that tells him to talk to _someone,_ to tell himself that he isn’t alone and that he _does_ have people that will talk to him, people who care about him.

Or perhaps, it’s the strange presence he feels. He can’t place it. When Marinette’s at the door, Adrien feels a premonition of the sort. He can’t help but feel whatever she has to say is important. That it’s more than just, _“Adrien, come back to school, you can’t mope around forever.”_

He feels _something._ He feels something different about it this time. Call him crazy, call him stupid or whatever, but this time, that’s how he feels.

And so, Adrien opens his door and quietly says, “come in.”

And Marinette does. He says it softly, but as soon as she hears the words, he hears Marinette turn around, her footsteps much faster than they had been when she was walking away.

“Adrien,” he hears Marinette say, _“Adrien.”_

She walks into the room and turns the corner. Adrien sees her. She sees him. For a second, neither of them move, simply taking the other in.

It’s been _weeks._

She hasn’t changed much, from what he can tell. Same build. Same eyes, same hair, same lovely face he remembers from all those weeks ago.

The only difference is the rivulets of moisture drifting down her cheeks, and a smile that looks like it could break at any moment resting on her lips.

She moves first; he follows suit. Soon, they’re running at each other, throwing their arms around one another, melting into each other’s embraces as they let the other hold them up.

And Adrien finally chokes out the sobs he’s been holding back for way too long.

* * *

_Marinette doesn’t give up._

_In the days following finding Chat Noir’s ring, all Marinette knows is that she can’t give up on him. He may have given her back the ring. She may have no way of contacting him anymore._

_But she_ can’t _give up._

I can’t be Chat Noir anymore, I’m sorry. Forgive me.

_Marinette knows very well that that’s stupid. Of course he could be Chat Noir! As far as she knows, there’s no reason he can’t be._

_She knows Chat wouldn’t give up the ring without a reason, however. Something during the final battle with Hawkmoth must have convinced him he isn't worthy of the ring._

_After getting through the initial shock and tears, Marinette sets herself to work. She looks through clip after clip of the fight. She does as much as she can to figure out who Chat Noir is behind the mask._

_It’s hard, at first. Soon, it becomes all she’s focused on. She almost fails to realize Adrien has stopped coming to school, or that he hasn’t been contacting any of them._

_But once she realizes that, it’s almost all too easy to put the pieces together._

_A blond haired, green-eyed boy that’s too kind for his own good. One that always has a smile on his face, because he’s just like that._

_One that’s hurting, that_ will _be hurting because he’ll be blaming himself for what happened with Hawk Moth. Even though it’s not his fault._

_And, soon enough, after too long of a period of trial and error, trial and error, trial and error, she finally figures it out._

* * *

“M-Marinette,” Adrien whispers, letting out a sob as he allows himself to melt into her embrace. He squeezes his eyes shut as the tears start to fall.

Marinette holds onto him tightly, wrapping her arms protectively around his back and pulling him closer. He lets his head rest against her shoulder.

She’s shaking, he realizes, just like he is at the moment. But she’s able to hold him up anyways.

“Adrien,” Marinette says softly, “I’m so happy to see you.”

Adrien sniffs loudly, and suddenly, the tears he assumed had stopped start to fall again. His vision clouds with moisture.

“I-I’m h-happy to see you too,” he murmurs.

And he is. He really, really is, but all too soon, Adrien realizes exactly what’s happening.

He lets himself revel in her embrace for a little bit longer before slowly untangling himself from Marinette and stepping away. He swallows nervously.

Marinette’s hands drift up to her face. She rubs at her eyes as if she’s wiping away tears, and she smiles at him. Her smile falters, however, when she sees him frowning.

“What’s wrong?”

Adrien rapidly blinks away his tears and wipes the rest away with a hand. He bites his lip anxiously. He knows Marinette is here for a reason—she might be here to simply cheer him up, or something like that.

However, she must have a different intention if the Gorilla let her through so easily, since he’s given explicit instructions not to.

“Why are you here?” he asks quietly.

Marinette seems taken aback by the question. “W-What?”

“My bodyguard wouldn’t have let you through if you just wanted to come cheer me up,” Adrien says.

His left hand unconsciously reaches towards his right to twist his ring. It’s a gesture he does when he’s nervous, however, as skin makes contact with skin, Adrien suddenly realizes he no longer has a ring to twist. He instantly takes his hand away.

Marinette seems to notice. She looks down at his hand thoughtfully.

“I came here because I wanted to see you, but also because I have something that belongs to you.”

It’s Adrien’s turn to frown. “What?”

Marinette walks forward, reaches over, and takes his right hand. She flips it over so that his palm is facing upwards.

“I have something for you,” Marinette repeats, and she takes her other hand, the one that’s pressed into a fist, and places it on top of his hand.

A familiar weight presses into the palm of his hand, and suddenly, all the breath leaves Adrien. He’s left staring at Marinette in shock as she slowly takes her hand away.

There, resting on his palm, is the Black Cat Miraculous.

He looks up at Marinette. He has no words to explain the rush of emotions that go through him at that moment. He feels everything and anything, and continues to simply feel, feel, _feel_ all of that, because there’s no way, there’s absolutely no possible _way_. . . .

“Ladybug?”

* * *

Marinette simply stares back at him, watching as a rush of emotion flickers across Adrien’s face. Shock, sadness, hurt. . . .

But most of all, there’s horror. There’s horror in his eyes as he whispers her superhero name, as he stumbles backwards, dropping the ring, not even having noticed Plagg materializing beside him in the process. He’s shocked. Startled. Horrified.

Marinette’s heart clenches. Does this mean he doesn’t want the ring back after all? Does this mean all of this was for nothing?

“H-How did you figure it out?” he asks, his voice shaking.

Marinette walks over and picks up the ring he dropped. “It. . . . it was easy, once I started looking.”

“But _why?”_

“What do you mean, why?”

“Why did you look?” Adrien stares at her with wide eyes. “Why did you want to find me?”

Marinette glances at him in disbelief. “Why _wouldn’t_ I want to find you?”

Adrien’s silent, as if he hasn’t contemplated this before. There, standing in his bedroom and holding the ring tightly with meters between them, Marinette suddenly realizes there’s a question she doesn’t exactly know the answer to yet.

“Why did you give it up in the first place, Adrien?”

Adrien looks away, his eyebrows furrowing in. . . . _shame?_

“The ring doesn’t belong to me,” he croaks. “I don’t deserve it.”

Suddenly, Marinette feels a rush of anger go through her. “That’s a lie,” Marinette says fiercely. “That’s a lie, Adrien.”

“It’s _not!”_ he exclaims. He stares at her, his teeth clenched and his hands drawn into fists, unspoken emotion glistening in his eyes. “It’s my fault. It’s my fault that I never figured it out, it’s my fault I never realized my father was Hawk Moth, it’s my fault I—”

“It’s _not_ your fault,” Marinette repeats once more, feeling a rush of protectiveness wash over her. “Adrien, it's _not_ your fault. You couldn’t have known.”

* * *

But it is. It is, it is, it _is_ his fault and no will ever forgive him for that—

He feels tears well up in his eyes as they slowly start to fall. He feels his legs to go weak, as if they’ll buckle at any second.

“But—”

Marinette closes the distance between them as she walks over to him. She shakes her head, and Adrien stops saying what he’s about to say.

“Listen to me,” she says. “You’re _not_ alone. You don’t have to go through this alone. What happened with Hawk Moth is _not_ your fault. It’s not.”

“Listen to her, kid,” Plagg pipes up for the first time since he’s come into the room. Adrien glances at his kwami in surprise. He didn't realize he was here, too. “You know she’s right.”

But he’s not entirely sure he believes her, really.

“I don’t care if you don’t believe me now,” Marinette says as if she’s reading his mind. “We'll work through that. We’ll get you therapy. We’ll try our best to support you. You’re _not_ going through this alone.”

Adrien simply stares as she reaches over and takes his right hand. He lets her.

Marinette gently slips the Black Cat Miraculous onto his finger. “This belongs to you. No one else. I’d never replace you, Chat.”

Adrien feels more tears well up in his eyes, and he chokes out a sob. “But—”

“Come here, kitty,” is all she says, holding out her arms to let him into her embrace.

It doesn’t take long for Adrien to take up on her offer. In an instant, her arms are around him once again, the familiar weight of his Miraculous rests on his finger, and the tears continue to fall and fall and _fall,_ letting out emotion after emotion he’d held in for _weeks—_

_I don’t care if you don’t believe me now. We’ll work through that. We’ll get you therapy. We’ll try our best to support you. You’re_ not _going through this alone._

“Thank you,” is all he whispers as he holds onto Marinette like she’s his entire world. “Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Join the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord Server](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) if you’re a writer, reader, or artist! It’s a lovely community filled with even lovelier people <3


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